ADOR pushed for Min Hee-jin’s reappointment as house director claiming they couldn’t trust her. Min Hee-jin said that she will not take on the role of general producer but is still handling work related to NewJeans. Both sides appear to be acting differently from their stated positions. What could be the reason?
On October 17, ADOR held a temporary shareholders meeting and passed a resolution to reappoint Min Hee-jin, whose term as internal director was set to expire on the 1st of next month, as internal director. ADOR kept its promise to Min Hee-jin’s representative during the voting injunction hearing on October 11.
On the day of the hearing, ADOR stated: “Our position in support of the appointment of the creditor (Min Hee-jin) as internal director is clear and we maintain her production authority for 5 years. We allowed her to continue the same job until her exclusive contract with NewJeans expired.”
They further emphasized, “The position of the creditor is to exercise the right to vote affirmatively on the agenda for the appointment of an internal director, and the debtor (ADOR) has also submitted a proxy statement consenting.” At the request of the court, they even left this content in the court record, promising to reappoint Min Hee-jin as internal director, which they have now implemented.
This is in stark contrast to ADOR’s previous media and legal responses, in which they appealed that Min Hee-jin could not be trusted due to her betrayal and suspected breach of trust. Some members of the public wonder “If you can’t trust her, why do you give her the job?” AND “It is strange to keep her as an internal director but not give her the CEO position.”
Industry experts believe that this decision was made because ADOR’s top priority is to ensure that NewJeans’ future operations are not disrupted. Furthermore, given that the members of NewJeans have expressed their desire to continue working with Min Hee-jin and her close collaborators through live broadcasts and other means, the general opinion in the industry is that it would be difficult to go against the artists’ wishes, also considering public opinion. . From ADOR’s perspective, the analysis is that the continuation of the artists’ activities is more important than the trust they have in Min Hee-jin.
In this regard, HYBE stated: “We respected the management decision of the ADOR board of directors and reconfirmed her as internal director”, but regarding Min’s current job position, they said, “We cannot confirm the contract with the producer and R&R.”
Furthermore, industry insiders believe that the reason ADOR consistently opposes Min Hee-jin’s return as CEO is, as ADOR stated, to separate production and management to avoid a concentration of power.
Min Hee-jin, who refused to sign the contract clause regarding the general producer position citing dissatisfaction, is apparently continuing her production work for NewJeans at ADOR. At the time, he claimed that he could not sign the production delegation contract presented by ADOR due to toxic clauses, as well as the uncertainty of maintaining his position as in-house director. Therefore, the news that he is currently continuing his work with NewJeans leaves room for questions.
Min Hee-jin’s actions also appear to be aimed at continuing NewJeans’ operations. In an interview with a Japanese media outlet on October 16, he said, “I am currently neither a producer nor a CEO,” adding, “It’s an ambiguous situation with only the authority of the in-house director, but I’m moving forward with the plans I’ve been working on (with NewJeans).” Min Hee-jin then said that the most important thing to her is the plans she has made to work with NewJeans.
Now that Min Hee-jin’s reappointment as house director has been confirmed, there is a possibility that she could re-sign a contract as general producer and return to operations. In this regard, Min Hee-jin’s representative said that it will be difficult to provide an official statement until the results of the injunction are known. However, they added that while nothing had been discussed separately with ADOR following his reappointment as in-house director, it could be discussed in the future.
While these parties continue their legal battle on opposing positions, they have a common goal, which is to maintain NewJeans’ operations. Despite the conflict, ADOR reappointed Min Hee-jin as internal director to keep her in the company, and Min Hee-jin is still continuing her work with NewJeans without leaving the company. To achieve this common goal, ADOR and Min Hee-jin are taking actions that may seem contradictory from an outside perspective.
Source: Daum
